Thursday, February 07, 2013

256 Ashkenazim are a mix of Khazars, European jews and M.E. jews.

Despite
being one of the most genetically analysed groups, the origin of European Jews
has remained obscure. However, a new study published online today in the
journal Genome Biology and Evolution by Dr Eran Elhaik, a geneticist at the
Johns Hopkins School of Public Health,argues that the European Jewish genome
is a mosaic of Caucasus, European, and Semitic ancestries, setting to rest
previous contradictory reports of Jewish ancestry. Elhaik's findings strongly
support the Khazarian Hypothesis, as opposed to the Rhineland Hypothesis, of
European Jewish origins. This could have a major impact on the ways in which
scientists study genetic disorders within the population.

The
Rhineland Hypothesis has been the favoured explanation for the origins of
present-day European Jews, until now. In this scenario Jews descended from
Israelite-Canaanite tribes left the Holy Land for Europe in the 7th century,
following the Muslim conquest of Palestine. Then, in the beginning of the 15th
century, a group of approximately 50,000 left Germany, the Rhineland, for the
east. There they maintained high endogamy, and despite wars, persecution,
disease, plagues, and economic hardships, their population expanded rapidly to
around 8 million in the 20th century. Due to the implausibility of such an
event, this rapid expansion was explained by Prof Harry Ostrer, Dr Gil Atzmon,
and colleagues as a miracle. Under the Rhineland Hypothesis, European Jews
would be very similar to each other and would have a predominant Middle Eastern
ancestry. The rival explanation, the Khazarian Hypothesis, states that the
Jewish-convert Khazars – a confederation of Turkic, Iranian, and Mongol tribes
who lived in what is now Southern Russia, north of Georgia and east of Ukraine,
and who converted to Judaism between the 7th and 9th centuries – along with
groups of Mesopotamian and Greco-Roman Jews, formed the basis of eastern
Europe's Jewish population when they fled eastward (*) , following the collapse of
their empire in the 13th century.(*) Jan Verheul: I understand that these people went from Sout-Russia to Central Europe, which is not eastward. But maybe I don't understand exactly what the author means. See also below: (**), where the author describes the wandering of the judeo-Khazars again. European Jews are thus expected to exhibit
heterogeneity between different communities. While there is no doubt that the
Judeo-Khazars fled into Eastern Europe and contributed to the establishment of
Eastern European Jewry, argument has revolved around the magnitude of that
contribution. Dr Elhaik's paper, 'The missing link of Jewish European ancestry:
contrasting the Rhineland and the Khazarian Hypotheses', examined a
comprehensive dataset of 1,287 unrelated individuals of 8 Jewish and 74
non-Jewish populations genotyped over 531,315 autosomal single nucleotide
polymorphisms (SNPs). This was data published by Doron Behar and colleagues in
2010, which Elhaik used to calculate seven measures of ancestry, relatedness,
admixture, allele sharing distances, geographical origins, and migration
patterns. These identified the Caucasus-Near Eastern and European ancestral
signatures in the European Jews' genome along with a smaller, but substantial
Middle Eastern genome.The
results were consistent in depicting a Caucasus ancestry for all European Jews.
The analysis showed a tight genetic relationship between European Jews and
Caucasus populations and pinpointed the biogeographic origin of the European
Jews to the south of Khazaria, 560 kilometers from Samandar –Khazaria's capital
city. Further analyses yielded a complex multi-ethnical ancestry with a
slightly dominant Caucasus -Near Eastern, large South European and Middle
Eastern ancestries, and a minor Eastern European contribution.Dr Elhaik
writes, "The most parsimonious explanation for our findings is that
Eastern European Jews are of Judeo-Khazarian ancestry forged over many centuries
in the Caucasus. Jewish presence in the Caucasus and later Khazaria was
recorded as early as the late centuries BCE and reinforced due to the increase
in trade along the Silk Road, the decline of Judah (1st-7th centuries), and the
rise of Christianity and Islam. Greco-Roman and Mesopotamian Jews gravitating
toward Khazaria were also common in the early centuries and their migrations
were intensified following the Khazars' conversion to Judaism… The religious
conversion of the Khazars encompassed most of the Empire's citizens and
subordinate tribes and lasted for the next 400 years until the invasion of the
Mongols.(**) At the final collapse of their empire in the 13th century, many of the
Judeo-Khazars fled to Eastern Europe and later migrated to Central Europe and
admixed with the neighbouring populations.Dr Elhaik's findings
consolidate, otherwise conflicting results describing high heterogeneity among
Jewish communities and relatedness to Middle Eastern, Southern European, and
Caucasus populations that are not explained under the Rhineland Hypothesis.Although Dr Elhaik's study linked European Jews to the Khazars, there are still
questions to be answered. -How substantial is the Iranian ancestry in modern day
Jews? Since Eastern European - Jews arrived from the Caucasus, where did Central
and Western European Jews come from? - If there was no mass migration out of
Palestine at the 7th century, what happened to the ancient Judeans? - And
crucially for Dr Elhaik, how would these new findings affect disease studies on
Jews and Eurasian populations? "Epidemiologists studying genetic disorders
are constantly struggling with questions regarding ancestry, heterogeneity, and
how to account for them," he says. "I hope this work will open up a
new era in genetic studies where population stratification will be used more
correctly."

More
information: 'The Missing Link of Jewish European Ancestry: Contrasting the
Rhineland and the Khazarian Hypotheses' by Eran Elhaik, Genome Biology and
Evolution, DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evs119 Provided by Oxford University Press

"The Bones of the
Old Ones: A Novel" by Howard Andrew Jones, published in December
2012, has Khazar characters aplenty, introduced as people who wear fur hats and
high boots and carry curved swords. Some of the Khazars are presented as
individual characters. The novel mixes fact and fiction and on page 304 admits
"As to pure fantasy, the Khazars did not have a doomsday
cult that welcomed the world's end in ice."

Medieval
Kingdom of Khazaria, 652-1016

Over a thousand
years ago, the far east of Europe was ruled by Jewish kings who presided over
numerous tribes, including their own tribe: the Turkic Khazars. After their
conversion, the Khazar people used Jewish personal names, spoke and wrote in
Hebrew, were circumcised, had synagogues and rabbis, studied the Torah and
Talmud, and observed Hanukkah, Pesach, and the Sabbath. The Khazars were
an advanced civilization with one of the most tolerant societies of the
medieval period. It hosted merchants from all over Asia and Europe. On these
pages it is hoped that you may learn more about this fascinating culture.

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY
OF KHAZARIA

Essays summarizing the history
of the Khazars, their principal cities, their culture, and their conversion to
Judaism in the 9th century.

The first gallery includes
images of Turkic runes, Turkic tribe symbols, a Khazar metal disc with an
engraving of the Star of David, Khazar-Saltovo amulets,
depictions of an epic motif, Khazarian battle and hunting scenes, Khazar silver
belts, and a map of Khazaria. The second link presents the display on 8th-9th
century Khazar objects (including arms and armor) from the northwestern Caucasus
from the March-September 2003 exhibit "Horse and Rider" at the State
Historical Museum in Moscow.

Sarkel's fortress was one of
Khazaria's most important, serving both as a defensive structure and a trading
caravan stopover. Includes images of the layout of the fortress, a bronze
warrior figurine, pottery, jewelry, bricks, and other objects.

What happened to the Khazars
after the fall of their kingdom? This remains one of the most controversial
questions in Khazar studies. Some new answers are beginning to emerge from new
discoveries. The first essay summarizes the latest findings and uses these
findings to re-evaluate the question. The second essay explains how we know
that Eastern European Jews also descend from non-Khazar Jews. The third page
gathers available evidence on genetics and shows that Ashkenazic Jews have
substantial roots in the Middle East. The fourth page queries whether Jews who
live in the Caucasus today descend from Khazar converts.

Yehudah ha-Levi was one of the
greatest Spanish Jewish poets. He was born circa 1080 in Toledo, Spain, while
it was under Islamic rule. He was a prolific writer of both Arabic and Hebrew
poetry. From 1120 to 1140, ha-Levi wrote the famous 5-chapter book known as The
Kuzari, which bases its storyline upon the Khazars' conversion to Judaism.

This is a wonderfully
illustrated guide to the history of the Khazars, compiled by staff at Rostov
State University. The only unfortunate thing in the site is that Khazar Judaism
is wrongly accused of causing strife and a civil war.

The Jews of Spain were
introduced to facts about the Khazar kingdom largely through the efforts of
Hasdai ibn Shaprut, vizier and physician to the Spanish caliphs, who wrote a
letter to King Joseph of the Khazars.

This book, translated from
Bulgarian into English, chronicles the history and archaeology of the Khazars,
Bulgars, North Caucasian Huns, and Alans. There are sections discussing the
Khazar cities Sarkel and Balanjar. Includes maps,
photographs, footnotes, quotes from historical sources.

About Me

'Mission statement'.
I am convinced that jewish individuals and groups have an enormous influence on the world. The MSM are, for almost all people, the only source of information, and these are largely controlled by jewish people.
So there is a huge under-reporting on jewish influence in the world.
I see it as my mission to try to close this gap. To quote Henry Ford: "Corral the 50 wealthiest jews and there will be no wars." `(Thomas Friedman wrote the same in Haaretz, about the war against Iraq! See yellow marked area, blog 573)
If that is true, my mission must be very beneficial to humanity.